Mass Effect: Terra Nova
by NickC
Summary: This is the story of the first years of humanity after the discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars. We will follow a young man named Richard "Richy" Miller one the very first extrasolar colonists and how he finds a new home on Terra Nova.
1. Chapter 1

March 5th Pleasanton CA, 2148

"Breep" "Breep" "Breep"

"Ugh" I said to myself. "It can't be morning already".

I turned to face the clock and the blaring green image of 6:25 burned into my still sleepy eyes.

"I have to stop playing Knight-fire until 1 on school days."

I got up, went to the bathroom, and took a shower.

"I can't believe I procrastinated on my essay again" I said to myself in the shower, " Man American History is not going to be fun today, maybe I can get an extension from Mr. Huerta he does like me after all."

After drying up, I headed to the kitchen to see my dad, mom, and sister already seated waiting for the food processor to finish the pancakes.

"Did you check the news this morning Richy," my dad asked me looking up from his tablet.

"Not yet, why did something happen?"

"Apparently there is going to be a major press release from Mars at around 2, I wonder what those guys have done this time."

"It's probably something boring like foundation for new bio-dome, God I don't know how those colonists can live on that planet. You have to wear a space suit just take a walk outside and you can go months without seeing the sky because of those dust storms. I swear only crazy people would want to leave earth"

"Maybe I want to go to Mars one day Mom what do you think of that ?," My sister answered back, " Besides I bet it's something interesting like them finally finding the army of little green aliens that have been hiding away waiting for their invasion of earth."

"Oh Andry, You and your crazy imagination" I replied. "If the martians were planning an invasion of earth they would have to first deal with the colonists Mars, we beat them to the punch on the invasion of planets."

All mys sister could do was a slight "harumpf"

'Ding'

The pancakes where finally finished, I ate my fill and then walked to the bus stop. My best friend, Jason, was already waiting for me there.

"Sup man", Jason greeted me

"Sup dude, great game last night huh?

"Yea, we kicked the asses of those nooblets didn't we."

"Remember the part where you took out that rager with the launcher, man that was sweet."

"That was nothing man, your 20 man mult-ikill was the most amazing thing I have seen in that game ever I don't think I've ever seen someone get that lucky before."

"That wasn't luck, that was all skills dude" He said with a sly grin.

"Sure it was", I replied mockingly "Oh here comes the bus."

The bus door slid open and I followed Jason up the stairs. We were then flagged down by our other friend Sarah, both of us taking a seat next to her.

"So did you two finish your essay for Mr. Huerta's class, or where you too busy playing Knight- fire all night?"

"I got mine done last night" answered Jason

"Well, aren't we the little go-getter." I said in a slightly sarcastic voice

"I'm betting you didn't even start yours" Sarah responded.

"You know me to well" I sighed.

"Not again Richy." Jason said laughing.

"Don't worry, I'll get out of it, I always do."

"That luck is going to have to run out someday", Sarah replied.

All I could do was smile at that remark.

We continued chatting about other events occurring in and out of school when the bus finally came to it's final stop. The three of us exited and headed to homeroom.

The hours passed by like any normal school day until the moment I was dreading all day. It was finally 6th period. American History.

"Well here goes nothing", I thought to myself.

I took my seat and five seconds later Mr. Huerta came in.

"I see lots of sleepy eyes in my class today, staying up late finishing my essay huh?"

The only response he received was a unanimous groan from the class.

"I guess that answers my question" ,he said laughingly."Well please transfer them to my file."

Everyone but me dragged their report to Mr. Huerta's drop box on their monitor, I meanwhile tried to look as inconspicuous as I could although in the back of my mind I knew there was no point, Mr Huerta would know I didn't send in the report in a few seconds.

"Hmm, now where is your report Mr. Miller?"

Just when I was about to answer him, our principal's face appeared on our monitor.

"Good afternoon everyone, I am sending in the news feed from Mars, it looks like something major has happened."

"Ooh, I hope it isn't anything bad, my uncle lives in Lowell City," Sarah said in a whisper that everyone could hear.

"I don't think they would have waited since morning to tell us if something bad happened," I replied back. Let's hear what the reporter is saying

"...that 's right Bill in a few seconds we are to be given a report from Governor Trelane and look here she comes now."

Everyone stood up as the governor took to the podium. She waved and then signaled for everyone to be seated.

"What I am about to tell you will probably change humanity forever."

A hush fell over the audience.

"Two weeks ago, a cavern was discovered in the polar region of the Promethei Planum.. Inside our scientists discovered the ruins of a large base. At first we believed it to be an undeclared settlement that had been abandoned by rogue miners. That was until the base lit up revealing a massive complex containing an unknown power core and other objects of unknown origin. Our scientists dated the base and it was shown to be more than 50,000 years old."

"Wait are you saying that this is an alien base, as martians?" a reporter interrupted

"That is exactly what I am saying, the governor responded and please don't interrupt. I have more to say. The base has been abandoned for millennia however, the generator that powered the base had been malfunctioning and it was this that was causing the blackouts that plagued the satellites orbiting this region, I will now take your questions."

The room exploded with the sound of reporters questions.

"Yes, you" the governor pointed at a reporter.

"Who built this base, what is it's purpose, are their intentions hostile?"

"We don't know their official name but the scientists have begun to call the race Protheans after the Promethei Planum. We believe the bases purpose was simply an observation outpost as far as we can guess. As for their intentions we believe that had they intended to conquer us they would have done so a long time ago, as I said, the base had been abandoned tens of thousands of years ago. Next question, yes, you"

"What do we know of these so called 'Protheans'?"

"Next to nothing I'm afraid, we have only just now begun to extract the information on the computers in the base and we are still trying to find a way to translate the Protheans language. Based on the ships we found in the base we know that they were highly advanced. I'll take one more question. You"

The governor points to a reporter.

"Did these aliens originate from Mars, is that where they evolved?"

"As I said, what we have found is only an observation post, therefore we believe that the Protheans originated from outside our Solar System. Now you must excuse me I have to plane to catch to meet with the UN to discuss what to do with this discovery. Thank you"

The camera lingered on the governor for a little while longer until returning to the reporter from the beginning.

"I'm a little shocked Bill, I honestly don't know what to say."

"Well Diane, so are we, stay tuned to us for on the minute reports on anything that breaks, I guarantee you this is pretty much all we are going to be discussing in the upcoming weeks."

The monitors dimmed, I looked around and everyone was too shocked to say anything.

The silence was finally shattered by Sam Reed two rows in front of me.

"Holy Shit" he swore.

This got the teachers attention.

"I agree Mr. Reed but please don't swear in my class."

The principal's face once again appeared on the monitors on everyone's desks.

"Due to today's events the rest of class is canceled please file out quietly and orderly and the busses will drop you off at your respective homes."

Everyone got up out of their seats I turned to exit the room when Mr. Huerta called my name.

"Make sure you get my report done by tomorrow Ok Richy?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Huerta."

I never did end up getting around to it though, the world went a little crazy for a few weeks after that announcement.


	2. Chapter 2

June 6th 2149

The discovery of the alien ruins on Mars had been the major headline grabber for the better part of the entire year and if not that then it was the discovery's effect on society of the planet. There was panic and wonder, hope and fear, excitement and anxiety in all aspects of life.

Governments no longer saw themselves as rivals trying to achieve dominance on a solitary blue sphere, it was now humans against the galaxy, us vs the unknown. Past squabbles and rivalries seemed rather pathetic when there could be a much larger threat just out of sight. For the best part of a year every major government held a special session of the United Nations discussing what to do about the future of humanity at large. The news was finally announced in October with the founding of the System's Alliance and subsequently the dissolution of the UN , with the support of United North American States, European Union, Chinese People's Federation, Russian Federation, and the Commonwealth of South America, the system's alliance stated charter was to spread the reach of humanity combing the resources of each of these nations in support of that goal. This really surprised my grandfather who never believed he would see the day that nations would put aside their selfish desires for the betterment of mankind as a whole.

While the governments of Earth became more unified than ever, the major religions of Earth were in a state of flux. Many religious leaders couldn't accept the new reality into their teachings and lost many of their followers, some at first refused to believe that what was discovered on Mars was in fact genuine, although that belief is now only held by the fringe of the fringe of conspiracy theorists. The biggest changed in organized religion however was the founding of the Interventionary Evolutionists who believed that human life was guided from the very beginning by aliens. My personal belief on this group is that they are slightly nuts.

While all this was going on the scientific community was awash in brand new sciences and ways of thinking that were unimaginable before the great discovery. The most important advancement unearthed from the data cache was the discovery of element-zero and it's ability to generate "mass effect fields". For at least half a decade government and private space agencies have been trying to crack the light barrier without success on Gagarin Station. With a mass effect drive a ship is able to manipulate it's mass allowing for acceleration past the speed of light. Last month Major Brian "Dauntless" Dalton became an instant celebrity when he broke the light barrier. Almost every girl at my school and my sister have a crush on him.

The discovery's effects on me didn't affect me that much. Oh I was fascinated about the future like everyone but my day to day life didn't really change. School resumed as it normally did the day after the announcement from Lowell City. I hung out with my friends, continued to play Knight-fire until 1 and did what any 16 year old did. My senior year was a blur, but in the end I passed my exams and received relatively good grades, although I was not able to get into my preferred college I was able to make it to my secondary choice which also happened to be the same school my friend Jason would be attending. Sarah however wanted to attend school in Europe and was accepted to Trinity College. So today was extra special to us as it may be the last day we see each other for a while.

"Wake Up", my sister Andry screeched into my ear.

"Ughh, five more minutes", I groggily replied back.

"No can do, Mom said you better not be late for your own graduation, and seeing as how it is in one hour and it takes you about that long to get ready and get there you don't have a minute let alone five minutes".

"Are you going to continue nagging me until I get up?"

"Yup."

"Ugh, fine you win, is the shower free?"

"Yea it's all your, just hurry up."

_God, I can't believe I am finally graduating today_, I thought to myself as I walked to the shower.

I stripped off my clothes and entered the shower turning on the news display on the glass monitor as per my routine. Halfway into soaping up a breaking news bulletin interrupted the news. What played next made me drop the soap.

"We have reports coming in now from Pluto expedition that state that Pluto's moon Charon may be more than it seems, we break now to our reporter Helen Desantos live at Systems Alliance

headquarters in New York, Helen."

"Thanks David, we have heard rumors stating that Charon is not a chunk of ice and rock as had been previously believed, we are awaiting an official statement now from the representative of the Systems Alliance, and here he comes now."

The crowd around the podium fell silent as the System's Alliance representative began to speak.

"We can now confirm that was once believed to be a moon of Pluto is not a moon at all. Charon

is in fact an ancient Prothean machine called a Mass Relay. We are at the moment digging through the ice that has accumulated over the years so we will be able to activate it . I will take your questions now."

A female reporter was first with her question.

"Helen Kristoff, New York Times, are you sure that is wise, do we even know what this alien tech even does?"

"According to the research we have made in the Martian archives, a mass relay is a giant mass

effect engine capable of transporting matter instantaneously to a partner relay somewhere in this

galaxy, a trip that would ordinarily take years even with the new element-zero ftl drive cores.

"David Armstrong, BBC, so you expected to find something like this somewhere in our solar system?"

"Yes, when we were looking up the records of our solar system made by the Protheans, we noticed that Pluto did not have a moon, this was the purpose of our mission to Pluto and Charon to ascertain what Charon truly was, or if their was simply a mistake. We were a little surprised

when we discovered Charon's true nature but it wasn't that big of a shock."

"Sierra Sawicki, Westerlund News, when do you expect the relay will be activated, do you think it is still functional after all this time encased in ice?"

"We expect the drilling to be complete within the week, after that it is simply a matter of pressing the on switch, as for it's functionality, from what we have gathered from the Protheans, they really built these things to last, they are made from a metal we as of yet cannot determine but from what we have learned the relay would still function even if our sun were to go nova."

"One final question, why was the relay deactivated?"

"To that, we honestly cannot say, the Protheans may have deactivated it when they left Mars,

that is the best answer we can give you at this time."

Questions concerning this announcement continued to be asked when I looked at the clock in the lower right corner.

"Oh crap, I've been standing around for 20 minutes!", I yelled to myself.

I quickly washed and dried off, put on my suit and graduation gown, ran down the stairs, and jumped into my car.

I was fortunate that there was not much traffic on the way, I was still five minutes late however. I made my way to my seat an inconspicuously as possible, with the loud music of the school band covering my entrance I was successful.

"Late as usual eh Richy",Sarah whispered in my ear.

"Hey I gotta be me", how is our valedictorian doing is he nervous about his speech?"

"Jason is as ready as he is going to be, I think he'll do fine."

"Well, looks like we are about to see it, I think Principal Whitley is just about finished speaking."

"...and presenting, this year's commencement speech for the class of 49, our valedictorian

Jason Loris."

"Thank you Principal Whitley, teachers, parents, my fellow graduates, today when we walk out the of the doors of this hall holding our diplomas in our hands we will know that we will have ended this chapter in our lives and everything ahead is the future, and what a future it is. We as a species have never seen so much change occur in such a short span of time. New technologies are being discovered every day thanks to the scientists combing through the alien ruins on Mars. Feats that we believed to be impossible just a year ago are about to become commonplace, and

it is our generation that will be guiding that future. Someday very soon a trip to Alpha Centauri will be like driving down to the local grocery store. The stars we can only see from a telescope we will soon be able to see out of a window of a starship that can travel faster than the speed of light. These wonders are ours for the taking but we must strive to take them. We were very lucky that we found such a bounty on Mars, but aliens will not come down from the sky and help you out, only you can do that. So grab hold of the future or it will just pass you by and leave you in the dust. Thank you."

The entire hall exploded in applause and plenty of cheering from the students. I could distinctly hear a 'whoop' that could only be Jason's older brother Todd giving his opinion of his brother's speech.

"Wow that was inspiring", I whispered to Sarah,"and he was afraid he was going to faint."

"He definitely pulled it off", she replied back to me.

"Are your eyes starting to water?"

"No, shutup", Sarah said punching arm.

"Ow,hey."

Our attention returned to the podium and the principal as the crown finally settled down.

"Wonderful speech, Mr. Loris, simply wonderful and I believe especially poignant with the recent discovery of Charon. It's almost as if you discovered it yourself Jason and only released the news today."

"But then when would I have had time to study for my finals last week Principal Whitley" Jason replied with a smirk.

_ Oh Jason you've always got a line for everything eh. _I thought to myself with a smile on my face.

"Anyway", Principal Whitley continued, "we will begin the diploma ceremony now when we call your name please step up on to the stage a receive your diploma."

"Eleanor Abaja"

"Derek Abrachinsky"

"John Aseto..."

All of us waited in order for our name to be called and all of us sat down with a relief one can only get while holding a diploma in their hand.

We all met outside for the final time in front of our school, me, Jason, and Sarah. For one final evening to watch the sunset.

"I know it was already said, but that was one hell of a speech, man."

"Thanks Richy, man I can't believe we are going to go the same college, this will be awesome."

"You know it man, it's too bad we all couldn't go together, how great would it have been for the three of us to go the the same school, eh Sarah."

"I know but I really wanted to go overseas to study, it's always been a dream of mine, and hey if it doesn't work out over there I can always transfer over."

"Well whatever happens, just stay in touch", I interjected. "Don't want the next time I hear you for you to have an accent all of a sudden."

Just as I said those words the sun sank into the horizon. Turning to the moon I saw the dim lights of the major colonies on it's surface.

"What do you think those people up there are thinking right now?" I asked no one in particular.

Jason answered."Probably, the same thing we are, what will tomorrow hold."


End file.
